Sea of Solitude

Sea of Solitude is the brain child of Cornelia Geppart and her team at Jo-Mei Games. It is published by EA under its new department at EA Originals. It is the second release by EA Originals following the success of Fe last year. It is released today.

The game is a beautiful and imaginative story telling puzzle platformer that tackles the difficult topic of mental health, namely loneliness, depression and anxiety. While Sea of Solitude is not the first game to do so, it follows the path that games like Hellblade : Senua’s Sacrifice, Limbo, Celeste and Night in the Woods have forged before it. The games main protagonist is a young woman called Kay, who has found herself in a world where she has turned into a black feathered creature with piercing red eyes. It seems to be a symbol for how Kay looks at herself and I really hope that as you progress through the world her appearance changes as her perception of herself changes. The world Kay inhabits now is a flooded city that hides the true beauty of world around her but is unable to see is consumed by her own inner demons and is a really strong suggestion to how Kay feels like she is drowning under the weight of everything. The use of strong visual connection to emotions is something the game developers have used really successfully to build the world that you navigate.

The game is stunningly created on the Unity engine and the art style is as captivating as it is haunting. The constant evolving environment mirrors the serenity and turbulence of Kay’s personal struggles. The use of the environment only strengthens the games ability to immerse the gamer in and pulls you along the journey with Kay. The world you enter gives you the uneasy sense of what lies beneath the surface and how everything shouldn’t always be taken at face value as you never know the struggles someone is dealing with. You work your way through the world addressing corruptions, possible wrongs or negative pressures in Kay’s life, meeting people that through their own loneliness or anxiety have turned into fantastical creatures and monsters. The game makes you want to challenge the monsters or work with the other creatures to learn more about Kay’s own challenges. Even if the monsters seem daunting or scary, the character design of some of the ‘bosses’ are amazing in scale and in relation to how they affect the environment, the game rewards your courage by allowing more access to the world and learn more about the main protagonist Kay.

This is a game I cannot wait to play fully, explore and experience the beautiful world that Jo-Mei Games have created. I love story driven games that are considered slow burners like Limbo, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Everybody’s gone to the Rapture. They burn themselves into your psyche because they draw you into their hauntingly beautiful world’s with really strong story narratives. I believe Sea of Solitude will be the same, or at least I really hope it does and I think everybody should take some time and really enjoy this game. Check out the game here https://www.ea.com/games/sea-of-solitude